1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to managing electronic messages. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for management of electronic messages to reduce the volume of unwanted electronic messages that are received by recipients.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Electronic messaging or e-mail has become, for many people, a primary means of communication. The ease by which a person is able to send and receive an electronic message makes this form of communication extremely attractive. Unfortunately, others utilize electronic messaging to send unsolicited bulk electronic messages, better known as “spam.” Unsolicited electronic messages may include commercial advertisements, political messaging, as well as pornographic solicitations. Due to the influx of unsolicited electronic messages, people have become wary of giving out their electronic addresses for fear that their address will be sold to would-be solicitors. Further, a person is not always assured that a request to stop unsolicited electronic messages will be taken seriously. Moreover, it is difficult to ascertain who has sent unsolicited electronic messages, since solicitors often use fabricated addresses or refrain from including one altogether.
Some attempts have been made to allow recipients to filter out unwanted electronic messages. One method includes allowing recipients to “block” a sender's address by adding the sender's address to a list of unauthorized senders. However, this method falls short because such senders simply have to create different sender's addresses to circumvent the block. In addition, a sender's address can be blocked according to conventional techniques only after the recipient has viewed an electronic message from the sender, determined that it is unsolicited, and manually added the sender's address to the block list.
Other techniques for filtering unwanted electronic messages involve adding certain words or phrases to filtering systems that are integrated into popular electronic messaging software. For instance, a recipient who finds that unsolicited offers for mortgage loans are frequently received can insert the words “mortgage rate” into a filtering component of his electronic messaging program. Subsequent electronic messages that contain the words “mortgage rate” are filtered and placed in a delete or trash folder automatically. However, one problem with this approach is that filtering according to commonly-used words can be underinclusive, meaning that many unsolicited electronic messages do not contain the words placed by the recipient in the filter, and overinclusive, meaning that some electronic messages that the recipient expects or wants to receive may be filtered out. The result of this is that the recipient is required to review the electronic messages placed in the delete or trash folder to determine whether any desired electronic messages have been filtered out. In addition, setting up the filters and maintaining the filters over time requires a significant amount of user time and effort, and many e-mail recipients are not technically sophisticated to the point that they would be capable or comfortable managing this type of filtering system.
Thus, conventional techniques for avoiding unwanted electronic messages have been generally unsuccessful, and computer users are subjected to increasing numbers of such electronic messages. Accordingly, it would be an advancement in the art to provide systems and methods for more effectively managing electronic messages and reducing the number of unwanted messages.